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Pike Nurseries Selects the Activant Eagle Solution

Activant’s retail business management solution to play an integral role in turning around the Southeast’s largest independent garden center

LIVERMORE, CA, March 9, 2009 – Activant Solutions Inc., a leading provider of retail and distribution business management solutions, today announced that Pike Nurseries has selected and installed the Activant Eagle® solution to manage its sixteen garden centers in Atlanta and Charlotte. The Activant Eagle retail solution gives Pike Nurseries advanced business management and analysis tools that will help the company improve customer service, streamline operations and increase revenues and profits.

Founded in 1958, Pike Nurseries is the largest independently owned and operated retail nursery in the Southeastern U.S. In 2007, a prolonged Georgia drought sent the company into bankruptcy, where it was subsequently purchased by Armstrong Garden Centers Inc. Armstrong executives performed a detailed analysis of the business and decided that Pike Nurseries needed to streamline inventory management, improve customer targeting and communications, and enhance the customer shopping experience. The executives decided that replacing the company’s existing Point-of-Sale (POS) and business management technologies with the Activant Eagle platform was an important early step in reaching these goals.

The Activant Eagle software is an integrated business management solution that combines the technology tools needed to improve customer service with advanced business analysis and management solutions. At Pike Nurseries, the Activant Eagle POS system helps speed customers through checkout lines, while providing sales associates with the tools they need to quickly check product information and answer customer questions. The Activant Eagle solution integrates all facets of Pike Nurseries’ business – automating and streamlining many time-consuming functions such as accounting and ordering and managing live inventory across multiple locations.

“Customers can spend hours selecting just the right combination of plants and flowers for their homes, but when they are ready to check out, they are ready to go,” said Mike Kunce, CEO of Pike Nurseries and Armstrong Garden Centers. “The Activant Eagle POS system will allow us to dramatically improve our transaction time, while capturing the data we need to improve our marketing efforts and customer service.”

Activant also developed a functionally rich and flexible gift card and loyalty program to be implemented by Pike Nurseries. The company is currently signing up loyal customers to its “Play in the Dirt Club,” tracking what they purchase and giving them reward points based on these purchases. This gives the company the ability to market to its customers in a more personal manner. The program also allows Pike Nurseries to communicate with its customers throughout the year, and drive traffic during the off-season with special offers or incentives. The company is also taking the unusual approach of getting feedback from other garden centers in developing its rewards program, and plans to share the information gained with these partners.

“The Activant Eagle solution allows us to better target and communicate with our core customers, and enhance their shopping experience,” said Kunce. “When you combine this with the fact that it also allows us to better track sales, make better buying decisions and manage inventory and margins across multiple stores, we feel that the Activant system will be a key part of improving overall profitability and turning Pike Nurseries around.”

“Activant is very proud to have been selected Pike Nurseries’ technology partner. We are committed to this effort and hope to play a significant role in getting this prominent garden center back on the right track,” said Steve Bieszczat, senior vice president of Activant Solutions. “The Activant Eagle solution will help Pike Nurseries improve its already strong reputation for customer service, while streamlining and automating many of the back-office operations that are crucial to a company’s success.”

Activant’s implementation team quickly migrated Pike Nurseries’ stores to the Activant Eagle platform, utilizing nearly all of the company’s existing hardware and transferring data from the old system to the Activant Eagle system with no downtime. The Activant Eagle solution went live on November 4, 2008 across all sixteen Pike Nurseries locations. Store employees are very pleased with the speed and added functionality of the Activant Eagle POS. Company executives are pleased with the improved business visibility thanks to the Activant Compass™ reporting software, as well as the ability to interactively drill down deeper into sections of the reports.

About Activant Solutions

Activant Solutions Inc. is a leading technology provider of business management solutions serving small and medium-sized distributors and specialty retailers. Activant provides customers with industry-specific software, professional services, content, supply chain connectivity, and analytics

Over 30,000 customer locations use Activant to manage their day-to-day operations. Activant’s systems are designed to help customers increase sales, boost productivity, operate more cost-efficiently, improve inventory turns and enhance trading partner relationships. Headquartered in Livermore, California, Activant has operations in Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom. For more information, please visit www.activant.com.

This announcement relating to Activant may contain statements that are forward looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, such as statements concerning trends, future technology or products, or Activant’s execution. These statements are based on current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties which could materially affect the company’s results, including, without limitation, market demand for products and technology, the company’s ability to meet that market demand, the integration of Activant’s technology and products with technology and products supplied by others, the integration of Activant’s products into the businesses of its customers, customer acceptance of Activant’s products, and the retention and deployment of skilled Activant service providers. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws, we undertake no obligation to update or publicly revise any of the forward-looking statements. Please refer to our most recently filed Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2008 filed with the Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on February 12, 2009 and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2008, both of which can be found through the Activant investor relations website at www.activant.com/company/investors, for a full discussion of the risks and other factors.

Note: Activant, the stylized Activant logo design, Activant Eagle and Eagle are registered trademarks of Activant Solutions Inc. Activant Compass is a trademark of Activant Solutions Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Press Contact:
Rick Fernandez
Incendio International
Tel: 770.973.8401
rick@incendiopr.com